BROOKFIELD, Wis. — It was a historic weekend at the box office and theaters said they are seeing pre-pandemic numbers of customers coming through the doors.
“This past weekend was great for us,” Marcus Cinema general manager, Andy Height said. “We saw a lot of people come out. A lot of people coming out to see the double feature.”
Height said the “Barbie” movie was ranked number one at Marcus Theatres across Wisconsin and “Oppenheimer” was ranked number two. This reflected in the movies' national rankings as well.
“It really pulled the general public — whether it's young or old [audiences] — all the way back into the theater,” Height said.
Gavin Stivarius from Watertown, Wis., and his two friends saw “Oppenheimer” on Sunday night. All three of them came back Monday to see “Barbie.”
However, before that, the group said they weren’t sure when the last time they came to the theaters had been. They said they were excited to be back.
“Things just seem more normal I guess,” Stivarius said. “It’s more fun; you just get to experience it.”
Marcus Theatres said it is excited to see these levels back to pre-pandemic times, and for people to be so excited to come dress up and watch multiple movies.
“’Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ really brought us back to that pre-COVID time, where we could get the same attendance numbers,” Height said. “We could have these big huge features and we could have everybody in the theaters enjoying everything at the same time.”
While things are ramping back up in the theaters now, the effects of the writers and actors strikes are still looming. Marcus Theatres said it is not worried about that impact, for now.
“As things come and bumps in the road, we’ve made it through COVID,” Height said. “I wouldn’t be too worried about that for now.”
The company is still riding the high of people excited to be back in the theaters again to watch two very popular, yet very different, movies.